Chapter Twenty - Let's All Go to a Fairy Tale Castle

In the corner of her eye, Samara saw Lady Vesper heading upstairs. The blonde elf looked to the redhead beside her to see if Ledert had seen the elder, too, but the other dark elf's nose was buried in the story of the Algandars Castle, commandeered from Lucian's belongings. She looked instead to the small dark elf on the other side of her. Hollace was busy scrawling words she didn't dare read, and it seemed that he also hadn't noticed the dark elf elder's return.

Samara turned her attention away from the other two elves and resumed stringing beads as though she watching for activity ahead of them. Just a moment later, Vesper returned from upstairs and joined them at their usual place on the landing. Samara lowered her bead crafting, and Ledert peered around the edge of the book in her hands. Vesper stood with her arms folded her chest.

"Hollace," she beckoned.

Samara glanced to the small elf again. He glared at the elder for the intrusion, and finished writing his piece before giving her any further attention. The elder didn't fuss or fidget, she was used to Hollace's resistance. Soon after, he tucked the graphite stick between the pages of his notebook, stood, and stretched. Vesper returned upstairs, and the small dark elf obediently followed.

"What do you think she wants?" Samara asked.

Ledert shrugged. "She probably just wants something from the Sediche region."

"You don't think she would try and recruit the black goblins for... you know, do you?"

"The black goblins are lazy homebodies, and humans don't fare well in the north," Ledert replied. "It'd be a waste of effort."

Samara nodded.

The redhead buried her nose back in the old storybook, and Samara resumed her bead stringing. It wasn't long before Hollace rejoined them on the second floor landing, but he didn't sit back down with them. Instead, he dropped his notebook between the girls. When Samara glanced up to see what was going on, Hollace had turned his back to them, and he was heading towards the first floor foyer. Vesper was already on her way downstairs ahead of him. The small elf stuck out his hand in a sort of wave, but said nothing. Just like that, he and the elder were gone. The girls looked to each other, shrugged, and Ledert seemed to think nothing more of it.

Samara set her beads in their box, put it aside, and got up to follow. She wasn't going to go with Vesper, of course, but she was had to know where the dark elf elder and the band's vocalist were headed. Hollace was walking out the door, and Vesper was speaking with another dark elf. There was someone with long, black hair standing with them, and Samara recognized those locks immediately. She raced the rest of the way down the stairs, and snared the former captain in her arms.

She had no idea the conversation she had interrupted, but it failed to continue once she stood among them. Vesper was regarding her sternly, her arms still crossed before her, and a scowl on her lips. But Lucian blue eyes danced at the sight of Samara. She smiled to him.

"He was found nearby," Vesper said, a wry smile deforming the scowl molded to her features. Her attention turned from Samara back upon the former captain. "This is only temporary. Is that clear?"

Lucian nodded. "I have no intention to linger."

"And keep out of affairs that no longer concern you."

"Yes ma'am," Lucian said.

Though Vesper seemed to take Lucian's smile for genuine, and led the other dark elf in their company away from where Lucian and Samara stood, Samara was sure there was a touch of sarcasm tainting it. She didn't inquire, and Lucian was content not to suggest that he had, in fact, been insincere. Samara led Lucian upstairs to the landing.

Clay had overtaken Samara's place beside Ledert. He was thumbing through the pages of Hollace's notebook, skimming the ideas fresh on the page. As far as Samara knew, that wasn't uncommon. Clay would rewrite Hollace's ideas, and add his own, and Radley would do the same if he were as inclined to lyrics as the other two. Radley, however, was content with just the soft reverberations of his strings and didn't give a thought about the rest of the music. The guitarist had also not yet made an appearance.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Samara called.

She stopped before him, her feet standing between his legs, and beamed. The drummer's gaze lifted slowly to hers, his expression flat—at least for a moment. When he caught sight of the man behind her, he scowled.

"What's he doing here?"

"I came to—"

"Where's Rad?" Samara asked, kneeling before the drummer to look at him face-to-face. "Is he still in bed?"

Clay's attention turned back to the pages before him. He seemed to have let the subject go, and Lucian seemed to get the hint just not to give the drummer any reason to support his apprehension around the former captain.

Clay sighed. "Some nightmare's got him spooked, so he didn't wanna go to bed last night."

"Well, that's no fun," Samara said. "It's too quiet out here."

"Make your own music."

Samara frowned. "But you're the musician."

Though neither Vesper nor Clay seemed especially inviting from what little interaction Samara had seen, Lucian still took the initiative to sit. There was space between him and the drummer, more than enough for Samara to get comfortable between them, and she did just that.

Facing the stairs down to the foyer, she saw before them dark elves filing from the foyer to the room upstairs. Maybe a dozen elves, she counted. The last of them was Lady Vesper.

"It's a war meeting," Lucian murmured, confirming what Samara wished she hadn't gleaned.

"I'm surprised she hasn't tried to recruit us," Clay said.

"You're a band, not warriors," Samara huffed. "Holly's the only one of you who can fight worth a damn."

"Samara." The drummer was leveling that stern glare on her.

She crossed her arms, and glared back at him. "What? It's true."

"Is he upstairs?" Clay asked.

Samara's indignity dropped. She had expected more resistance than that. Clay was better-sculpted than the other two performers. Though he had the power, however, he lacked the nerve. Samara shook her head, and glanced ahead of them to the stairs that led to the foyer. "He went out," Samara replied.

Clay seemed to consider this for a moment, and then sighed. "Good."

As the tension of the subject settled, Samara realized they had a bit of an audience in Ledert. Not that she would have gone unhearing, lying next to Clay as she was with her feet on the wall. But she had laid the book on her belly and briefly given the conversation the full of her attention. As Ledert lifted the book again, Samara sheepishly turned to Lucian.

"I let her borrow your book," she informed him. "I hope that's okay."

Lucian smiled. "Books are meant to be shared," he said. "And that one belongs to the castle library. I doubt they'll be seeing it again."

"You stole it?" the redhead asked, peering around the edge of the tale.

The former captain attempted to suppress the smile, but it only grew as he confessed, "I might have." In spite of his humor, however, his brow furrowed.

Samara curled her arms around his, and watched as the humor drained completely from his visage. The rest of him seemed quite listless, too. "Lucian?" She tugged at the arm in her grasp until he looked her way. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he assured. "I just have a lot on my mind."

"Like what?"

"I don't think it would be appropriate to speak of it here," Lucian said. He glanced around Samara, to the drummer on the other side of her.

Samara turned back, too, to see the look Clay had returned the former captain. The dark elf eyed the human suspiciously, but his expression was no more surly than usual. His attention flicked briefly to Samara before he laid his head back against the wall. "Don't let me stop you."

"I need to go somewhere that neither humans nor the fairy races would think to look for me for a while," Lucian said.

"Like the Algandars Castle," Ledert suggested.

"Great idea, Ladybird," Clay said, "let's all go to a fairy tale castle."

"It's not a fairy tale," Ledert huffed. "It's a true story."

"How would you know?"

"Valko said so. Lord Nogueira and Lady Faunus were friends with the elf king of the story," she stated, grinning broadly from where she lay. "And whether or not they would think to look there, the light elves won't wanna visit the place that's supposed to be the origin of the algandars disease."

"Lucian, what do you think?" Samara glanced back to the former captain.

"I think he needs a doctor," Clay replied.

Samara's mouth hung open. The color had drained from the former captain's features. He was already pale-skinned, but now he looked something like a ghost.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

She removed her arms from his and knelt astride his legs. She grabbed instead for his face. The former captain's eyelids hung half-closed. He seemed not to see her, not to see anything. She lifted his face to get a better look at him. Even the tears in the corners of his eyes could not mask the anomaly. Lucian's eyes weren't blue anymore. They were green. Even the scleras were green.

"Lucian?"

Clay gripped at Samara's shoulder. "Give him some space."

She leaned back, sitting on her ankles, and in the corner of her eyes could see Clay looking over the former captain. He must have noted the anomaly, too, as he held Samara somewhat to one side and leaned closer himself.

"Valko?" Clay murmured.

Lucian's attention snapped to the drummer. The tears fell from those bright, green eyes.

Clay gasped. "You're alive."

The enchantment faded. As those eyes became blue once more, the former captain sagged against the wall behind him.

"Samara, move," Clay said.

She hesitated just a moment longer before scooting out of Lucian's lap. The drummer crouched beside them, grasped the former captain's person, and lifted the man into his arms. It looked awkward for Clay to hold someone so tall, but he must have been used to that. Radley was about as tall as Lucian was. Samara stood after him, and when the drummer carried Lucian towards the girls' room, she skipped ahead and opened the door for him.

"I'm putting him in a guest room," Clay stated.

"We have an extra bed," Samara said. She leaned against the door to keep it open and gestured inside.

"He's not staying in your room," Clay rebutted. "You didn't even ask Ledert if she minds."

"I'm okay with that," Ledert said. She had laid the book on her stomach again, and was watching them from her cozy spot on the floor. "Don't worry, Mama Hen, I'll keep them in line."

Clay rolled his eyes, but he couldn't argue with that. He shuffled inside, careful not to bang the former captain's head on the door frame, and laid him in the single bed opposite the girls' bunks. Ledert rolled onto her side and got up to follow them, and Samara left the door gaping for the other dark elf as she made her way to Lucian and Clay.

"I don't understand," she said. "What happened?"

"He has the soul of a light elf in him," Clay said. "I didn't even know they could perform a transpiritation on a human."

"Is he gonna be okay?"

"He'll be fine."

Even unconscious, however, the former captain's breathing had grown ragged. A sheen of sweat had begun to coat his brow. Clay stepped out of the room. Once he was gone, Samara reached for Lucian's hair, pulled it off of the ground, and tucked it in bed beside him. She settled on the edge of the bed, her weight supported more by the frame than the mattress, and watched his chest successively rise and fall. Across the room, Ledert did the same, dropping into her own bed. She and Samara exchanged a glance before the redhead buried her nose back in the book.

It was still until Clay returned. In the drummer's hands were a basin of water and a cloth. He set the basin down on the girls' dresser. Samara pulled the cloth from his arm before he had even let go of the basin. She wet it, and laid it across the former captain's forehead.

Rad shuffled into the room after Clay, and paused only a step inside the doorway. He glanced around the room. He seemed not to see them, at least not clearly. His vision must have still been clouded by slumber. Still, he looked to everyone in the room in turn. The guitarist paused, ran a hand through his matted mohawk, and scratched at the back of his neck before trying anew.

"Morning, Rad," Ledert greeted.

The guitarist's eyes lit up at the mention of his name, and he smiled. The smile didn't last, falling before his eyes had even fallen upon Lucian. He seemed not to notice the human at all.

"Where's Holly?" he asked.

"He went out," Samara replied, "probably on some errand for Lady Vesper."

"Is she upstairs?"

"She's in a meeting, Radley," Clay said. "You can ask her later."

Rad shook his head. His doe eyes were open wide now, no trace of grogginess remaining. He spun on his heel and rushed back out of the room before anyone could say anything more. Clay rolled his eyes, and then buried his face in his palm. They all watched the door for a moment before turning their attention back to their own business. Ledert resumed reading as Samara did watching Lucian.

Clay wrapped his arms around Samara's shoulders, resting his head on hers. "I wouldn't worry too much about him," the drummer said. "Just don't let Lady Vesper kick him out before he's recovered."

Samara pawed gingerly at Clay's arms. "I won't."

They heard Rad's footsteps fast approaching and turned back to the door.

"Mama Hen, I need you to come with me."

"Where?" the drummer asked.

Rad's face stretched in something like a grin, good humor on the surface, but the shallow cheer didn't hold. "Please?"

"Maybe after lunch," Clay replied, leveling his cool stare on the guitarist. "I'm not going anywhere right now."

Rad frowned outright. His fingers curled and uncurled. And when he redirected his gaze to the floor it was as if to hide tears. "I'm not going without you."

"Drago, heads up!"

The blonde knight looked to the rest of the small company, trailing well behind them as usual, and got a snowball to the face. While he staggered to stay afoot amidst the powder and ice, the captain laughed. Drago bent over the snow, scooped it into a ball of his own, and launched it back. Sawyer sidestepped, as if he knew what was coming. Instead of the captain, the snow burst against the priest's shoulder. Rudy leveled a glare at them both.

"Sorry, Rudy!" Drago cried.

The captain only laughed harder—at least until Mina claimed sweet vengeance, covering him in armfuls of loose powder.

"We're not here for fun and games," the priest said, brushing the snow from his back. "We're here to find the water dragon."

Sawyer slung an arm around Rudy's shoulders. "Lighten up, Rude," he replied. "A little fun never hurt nobody."

Drago said nothing for fear of spoiling the moment. But as he wiped his face on the back of his sleeve, he was disinclined to agree. That snowball was packed as tightly as the loose powder was going to get, and it most certainly did hurt. He could also feel goose bumps where he had been struck. Their leggings and the thick cotton of their long-sleeved shirts had been too much in the city, and fair (though still a bit warm) as they had passed through the Nowem region. Now that they were here, wandering the Sediche region in search of a dragon whom they couldn't find elsewhere in the world, their gear was not nearly enough.

Rudy leaned into Sawyer's hold, turning his head to meet the captain eye-to-eye. "I'm not sure we've met," the priest said. "Because I don't recall our Sawyer ever being so... chipper."

"Well, let's see," Sawyer mulled. "We have the last orb, we know where to find the gold dragon, and we know the vessel for the silver dragon." The captain's grin spread, and Drago saw in it nothing but the teeth of a predator just before it pounces its prey. "The only thing left is to figure out where the water dragon's hiding."

While Drago's attention was on Sawyer, Mina had made her way back to him. "Liar," she said, "you're just enjoying the snow." She stepped behind the blonde knight, set her hands on his back, and steered him onwards. "For all we know, the water dragon isn't even here."

"No, he's here," Sawyer assured. How quickly his cheer melted back into the moody, scowling monster everyone knew him to be sent shivers up Drago's spine. "He has to be here. The guys looked everywhere else trying to find the damned orb."

"Except the fort," Mina replied.

Sawyer's brow knotted, his nose scrunched in a glower. He removed his arm from Rudy's person and stalked onward without another word. Rudy motioned for Mina to stop next to him. When Drago no longer felt her guiding him forward, he stopped in turn, leaving Sawyer to walk alone.

"Did you have to spoil the moment?" the priest sighed. "It was a pleasant reprieve from... this."

Mina grinned. "He'll get over it."

She took Rudy by the arm and strolled with him after the captain. This time, Drago followed closely. He wouldn't dare say it, but he breathed easier to know that was altogether possible for the water dragon to be elsewhere. If it was at Fort Ledanesis, they might have lost their opportunity to take on the beast. They might have to find an alternative means to save their skins from the coming of the dragons. And maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't ever have to fight another.

They had been walking for some time through the powder. The longer they lingered, the deeper the chill cut into their gear. Ahead of Drago, Mina and Rudy had been chatting. They had been quiet at first, but as the captain's stalking ahead of them had settled to a brisk jaunt, their voices had raised to cheery banter.

Now, however, Sawyer stopped. The archer and priest ahead of Drago redoubled their clip to get an idea of what he had found. As Drago neared, it became clear that it wasn't what Sawyer had found, it was what he hadn't. There were toadstools and trees all around them, but the trail they followed seemed like a dead end. Sawyer turned back, looking straight to the blonde.

"Well, scout," he said, "what do you think?"

Drago thought back. There hadn't been a fork in the path since they crossed the bridge into Sediche, and the trees were too dense to wade through. Most of the toadstools' spores were visible as faint, dirt-like specks amid the snow, and the few dead deathclovers near them suggested they were poisonous. It was best not to cross those particular toadstools, either. The only way to move was onward was to ascend the cliff before them. The path seemed to continue straight ahead, but it was too high to reach the edge.

Drago made his way to the cliff face, in spite of the toadstool at its base. It was a taller, narrower specimen, with a somewhat flat cap. It also didn't emit those poisonous-looking spores. Drago reached for the toadstool to see if it was sturdy enough to stand on. At his touch, the form quivered. He gasped and withdrew his hand as the strange toadstool sprang up until it was level with the cliff face.

The blonde knight jumped as a pair of hands gripped his shoulders. Moist warmth tickled his ear as the captain whispered, "Good work."

The mushroom settled to its original height. Sawyer waited until it was stable to climb onto it.

"Wait!" Drago said. "We don't know if it's safe!"

Even with the captain's weight pressing against it, the toadstool still wobbled, and then sprang into the air. As it came to a stop level with the cliff above them, Sawyer stepped off, and smirked down at them from above. "It'll do," he replied. "Now get up here."

"I'm not riding that thing."

Much to Drago's dismay, Mina had already joined Sawyer. Rudy was climbing onto the toadstool in turn.

"Overruled, Drago," Mina called down to him. "Let's go."

"Don't worry about him," Sawyer said. "If he wants to join us, he'll catch up. Let's go."

Drago stood alone by the toadstool, in the shadow of the cliff, sizing up the now-still form.

"By the way, Sawyer," Mina said.

"What?"

"I didn't tell Allard about Lucian."

"What?" Sawyer hissed. "Why?"

"I told Coty to do it," she said. "Do you think the commander-in-chief will tell him the rest?"

"Mina, why?"

"Cotes doesn't want to believe this is happening," she replied, "but he knows it is. And when he comes to terms with that..."

The other knights' voices soon grew too faint to make out their words. They really were going on without him. Drago frowned at the toadstool. It was even chillier standing there, alone in the shadow of the cliff. He took a deep breath, climbed aboard, and braced for the strange, springing motion. When he had stumbled safely onto the land above, the others weren't as far as he thought. They had just been lowering their voices. Still, he clambered to his feet and staggered after them. The mountain seemed bigger now than it had from the bridge to Nowem. The path they followed proceeded directly into it.

"Did you hear that?" Rudy asked.

"Hear what?"

That's when the howling began. The first cry didn't sound like an animal. It was a nasal mockery of one, but the second, the third, and more were not. The howls echoed all around them. Sawyer had his hands on the hilts of his blades, and Drago knew then to draw his own. Wolves leapt from between the trees, half a dozen of them. They dodged Mina's arrows and Sawyer's slashes. Rudy landed a fist square in the muzzle of one of the wolves. While it recoiled, the rest were closing in on the priest.

As the knights rushed to Rudy's aid, one word echoed from the nasal voice that had first howled. "Fire!"

Snow shot through the air, arched high and raining down on the knights. Some of it was powder, blinding them in a flurry, and some of it was packed to beat them down. None of the first round of snowballs hit their targets. Even so, the priest was on the ground.

As Drago rushed to regroup with the others, he saw something blunt and dark in the snow. A stone. Mina had shot one of the wolves, and Sawyer had kicked back another that he had missed with his blades, as the next volley of powder and snowballs came raining down from the sky. Drago's gaze flicked to the falling snow. The one that would land the nearest to him would land directly atop Mina. He dove at her, sending them crashing into the snow. The snowball, and the stone inside it, thumped against the ground by their feet.

Drago rolled off of Mina. Sawyer had successfully chased back the wolves. One had lost a leg, and another had fallen altogether. The rest, however, still looked ready to strike. No longer buried beneath the wolves, Rudy rolled from his bottom to his knees, but with the restorative light collecting his energy in his hands, he hadn't the strength within himself to stand.

"Captain, we should leave," Drago said.

"They're wolves and goblins, Drago. Just wolves and goblins."

"No, he's right," Mina agreed. "We're not going to find the dragon here, and you know it."

Author's Note

This chapter ran a bit longer than anticipated. There were some big changes to the points covered in it. I'm not sure if that was for the better. Oh well~ In the next chapter, Gil shows us what he's made of! ...Or not. xD